3 little monkeys taking a bubble bath

(every time I see this smile I think of that old commercial with the reach toothbrush...do you remember the one where the guy has to open his mouth on hinges and his entire head folds over? anyway, I liked that commercial and I love her huge mouth gaping smile)

Chair Re-upholstry Project #1

I wanted one Queen Anne chair to do this project on...and found two. I would like to take credit for the work...but truly, it was all Daddy. I bought the chairs on craigslist for a steal...I went and picked them up, working with two nice gentlemen to cram them into my mini van, and then I picked out the fabric at Hobby Lobby. I LOVE the fabric. After that, my job primarily consisted of critiquing and "micro-managing". Daddy put all the elbow grease and work into this project. It was more work than we anticipated, which is one reason we haven't started the second chair yet. We both agree however, that this will not be our last re-upholstry project.
I need to find the perfect fabric for the other chair (you know me, I would hate for anything to match or be the same). I would love to find something with dots...and maybe that nice plum color in the new fabric.
Here are pics.


DRAB!!!!





A lot of work...it just isn't as simple as it looks...lots of numbering and stuff. At one point we actually had made piping with slipcovers for the arms, but our sewing skills are novice at best, and it just wasn't looking "store bought"...I like to DIY but I don't want it to look too DIY, ya know.




Isn't this fabric dreamy? I LuuuuV it!

And of course, no chair is complete in my house unless it is covered in monkeys. (don't worry, we Scotch Guarded)

Momma said....

there'd be days like this, there will be days like this, my Momma said....

I'm just sayin....

Birthday Madness

A week of birthdays!!! My birthday was the 4th, then Buttercup turned 1 on the 7th and then Bluebird turned 3 on the 10th. It was a crazy busy week. the photos and posts will be all out of sequence because I am just taking things one day at a time.

Of note...we have a niece who shares a birthday with me on the 4th, our sister had a birthday on the 11th...and if that wasn't enough...my dad's fiance celebrates her birthday on the 8th, and her son shares a birthday with Bluebird on the 10th. So when I say "Birthday Madness"...I truly mean it.




Above are a few pics of Buttercup on her birthday. More to come in the next few days.
I can't believe she is ONE! Time flies. She is pretty much only walking now...she has always been a bit dainty and thought crawling was too much effort, and walking seems to suit her better. Even though she still wants to be held about 90% of the time. This child is the cutest thing ever, and it is a good thing, because she is so tiringly needy, that the only thing that keeps us from pulling our hair out is that sweet toothy smile.

My mom and her husband came up for a few days to celebrate the girl's birthdays. They didn't get to stay for our apple party, but they did get to attend the kids school, where we had special snacks in honor of our sweet Bluebird. I wanted to do something that would mean something to Bluebird without isolating the boys in her class...so we went with Scooby Doo! Bluebird loves Scooby Doo (too much I think) and it seems the other kids feel the same way. My mom and I made tie dye cupcakes. They were tie dye with four different fluorescent colors of cake...we had so much fun making them. We thought it was a hilarious twist on the mystery machine and all that, even if the kids didn't fully get it. On the way to the school, we stopped by Wilson's 5 and dime to get the Scooby Doo rings...we figured we needed 28 Scooby Rings. 14 for Bluebird's class and 14 more for Boy's class (yes, we let his class celebrate too)...we found 24 easily...and then...oh no, were there no more. I felt the stress ball in my chest as we searched and searched...to no avail. I started trying to think of alternatives...But anyone who has kids knows that you can't succeed in giving a few 3 and 4 year olds something different from the group....it just isn't a good idea. Then my mom's husband (who had been out in the car searching for his cell phone, and thankfully found it and came inside to see what was taking so long) decided to give things a new eye...he turned over the cupcake rings, with rings all over the floor, we successfully left with 29 Scooby rings. WOO HOO! My mom said "Thank you Jesus". Now, I am not convinced Jesus was invested in whether or not we found enough Scooby rings for our tie dye hippie cupcakes...but if he was, I am thankful also. So Jesus, thank you...and also a thank you to whoever ordered the rings, and to all the people who decided not to do Scooby Doo cupcakes this week.
Now you may wonder why I needed rings in the first place...well...let me tell you.
Last spring I made Superman cupcakes with Superman rings...and I heard a kid say "yea, his mom puts the rings on the cake"...so...I decided then and there to try to always put rings on cupcakes. The kids love it.
The kids in Bluebird's class greeted her so sweetly with birthday hugs and so much love. They had a banner for her and her teacher held her in her lap and they all sang and prayed for her. She was a bit embarrassed and shy...but it was very special. THREE!!! Where did the time go? Just three years ago I was spending night and day in the NICU with a 3 lb princess who couldn't breathe and trying to navigate all the tubes around so I could hold her fighting little self close to me. And now here she is, strong, brave, and perfect.
For that, I say...Thank you Jesus! for I know without a doubt that divine intervention brought our baby home safely.

So here are some photos of our special treat at the school...

catching up

so...this has been quite possibly the longest three weeks ever. I have much to fill everyone in on...including the cutest apple themed birthday party ever, an awesome re-upholstery job on our new chair, a new car (Monday----but not because we wanted one), our drift wood sculpture, and my mom's visit.
These are only a few things we have done this week, mixed with play dates, a sushi date with friends (grown-ups, for my birthday), and more.
We have been under a lot of stress regarding one of our children, and could use lots of prayer and positive energy and love directed towards us.
I am going to be doing my first paid presentation regarding a chemotherapy drug in a week and a half, and I am nervous.
Daddy is going to be doing a big presentation in New Orleans in two weeks. It is a big one and he even has to wear a tie!!!! We are flying Grandma Mille in from Oregon so she can stay with kiddos (ALL THREE), and we are going to take our first sans children vacation since our honeymoon. I have been to New Orleans a few times and I just can't wait to stay on the French Quarter and introduce my love to beignets at Cafe Du Monde and hopefully be able to afford a piece of artwork for above our piano.
So....look forward to lots of new posts and pictures to come. I finally got a new battery charger for my camera...so I should finally be able to get some photos loaded up tomorrow.
For now, the house is quiet and almost clean and I am going to go sit on the couch and hope to keep my eyes open for an hour or so to read Bossypants by Tina Fey. I love her.

Boy

This Boy. This Boy is the light of our lives. He came on a Wednesday morning. Everything changed that day. Someone once said that once you have a child, you let your heart walk around outside of your chest, and this is true. I have my heart in three little packages, living outside the protection of my chest.
this Boy is so loving and tender. He can be volatile at times, even hard to understand or know. But getting to know him is such a blessing. His hugs, his innocence, his love...it is such a beautiful thing.
We have so much fun with him. Everything a little boy should be...he loves cars and robots and super heroes and star wars and cowboys and dogs...just perfect.
He also loves to dance and sing and can do the most hilarious little monkey dance. We use the table as a stage and he does his monkey dance and makes us laugh so hard.
He loves to be tickled. He loves to ride his bike. He loves to swim and spit water and get dirty.
I feel so blessed that this boy, this beautiful perfect boy is a part of my life.
There are lots of questions right now regarding him...but no matter what, he is always our BOY! My sweet, fun loving, interesting, lovable, cuddly, boy. Mine!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have been waiting to run out of detergent for just this occasion. I am really trying to make my life a certain way, and I wanted to start focusing on simplification and budgeting.

This was simple...ONCE I HAD INGREDIENTS! Some of the products are not so simple to find in our area...but hopefully I can help you locate.

Here are the ingredients:


there are all sorts of recipes out there, and you could really omit the baking soda and the oxyclean. Omit the oxyclean and you will definitely be more "Green"...but I wanted the best possible results and likes the idea of its "whitening power".
I used equal parts:

3 bars of zote soap
3 cups baking soda
3 cups washing soda
3 cups borax
3 cups oxyclean

I also used essential tea tree oil:


Now...a quickie on where to find ingredients. I found zote soap at SavMor in Greenville. I have heard that Home Depot has it too...The cheapest online seemed to be Walgreens.com
amazon charged too much for shipping, so unless you pay for Amazonprime...it is not really the best deal. Same goes for the washing soda. Amazon charges about $11 shipping...which is RIDICULOUS! I ordered it from drugstore.com which only charged $4 for shipping. I have since heard that Publix carries it.

The other ingredients can be found anywhere.

You grate the Zote soap up like cheese...see:


It smells great. (Of note: I have also seen Zote soap is a great use for catching catfish).

Then you mix all the ingredients and put a bunch of drops of essential oil of your choice and put up in a sealed container. Mine looks a little shallow...but if I had had more baking soda, I would have really gone for 8 cups of each. You only need 1 oz per load though, 2 oz for really large...so it should last a very long time. It smells great and cleans beautifully.




This is also pretty healthy and mild and can even be used on your cloth baby diapers.

Have fun.